Untitled, from ‘Ten from Leo Castelli’

Description

With parents who both worked in manufacturing, perhaps it was fitting that Lee Bontecou became a sculptor specializing in the use of industrial elements. She intended her works to function as both paintings and sculptures. Although she was well known for the remarkable use of canvas, screen, and wire in her sculptures, her work in other media speaks just as strongly, including this screenprint from 1967.
Bontecou preferred that her pieces remain untitled because she felt that titles tended to limit the viewer to a certain response. In this work, she managed to create a hypnotizing depth with the use of concentric shapes and the centralized placement of a hole that immediately captures the attention of the viewer. Although the hole seems to have boundaries defined by the concentric shapes that envelop its edges, its depth appears to be never-ending. In speaking about this piece, Lee Bontecou remarked that "with painting you have illusion. The surface is two-dimensional, so everything that happens on it is illusionary. I love that." Untitled captures this sense of illusion perfectly, leaving the viewer to decide just what Bontecou is representing.
Jamina Ramírez, Intern for Modern and Contemporary Art, on the occasion of the exhibition The New York School: Abstract Expressionism and Beyond, July 20, 2002 – January 19, 2002